Practice Management
Getting More Valuable and Consistent Case Acceptance by Scott J Manning, MBA Anyone can talk a good game, even diagnosis a lot of treatment, but it’s the yeses that matter. Think about the patients with the most opportunity in their mouths. That’s because they’ve taken the path of least resistance that was offered to them by every practice they’ve ever been to before – including quite possibly yours. Instead, take them on a more worthy walk called the “pathway to health” that leads to an improvement in the quality of life. The patient might not always like hearing the harsh truth, but they’ll really dislike the health that results from the pacifying lies. Since we care about the patients’ quality of life, we care about providing comprehensive dentistry, which means case acceptance matters just as much. Today, I want to make a few tactical points that will help you achieve more valuable and consistent case acceptance. 1. The ultimate yes is arrived at in a culminating fashion by getting lots of little yeses along the way. Yes, on the appointment. Yes, on the investment for the comprehensive exam and new-patient experience. Yes, on the pillars of health. Yes, on the goals of the visit. Yes on the comprehension of current problems. Yes, on the outcomes and benefits of treatment. This is the process of asking questions, educating your patient, creating emotional connection, engaging them in a discussion about your clinical philosophy, and obtaining a clinical yes – all before you even think about treatment presentation. You need to build up a series of yeses to eventually lead to case acceptance yeses. Truly, it should not be difficult to build momentum. It is easy to come up with questions no one could possibly disagree with…
• Health being the patient’s responsibility. • Being proactive rather than reactive. • Saving teeth and function. • Avoiding future problems. • Doing less costly treatment now rather than wait. All of these acknowledgements and affirmations along the way lead to a committed patient who wants the outcome of the dentistry at least as much, or even more so, than you do. This has to be deliberately orchestrated in your practice by everyone. If any one team member fails to advance the patient’s belief and deserve, it will sabotage the entire experience. As a team, evaluate the following… • Where in our process and experience do we need to get more patient buy-in? • Where are we moving too fast and not accomplishing the objective? • Where are we taking the path of least resistance instead of a pathway to health? Understand that patients have to first accept that they deserve more than they have now, that they are worthy of the investment, and that their health is their responsibility. You can help them achieve not just the goals they walked in with but the goals you expanded their mind to see and believe in. 2. Move beyond the idea of just ‘case acceptance’ as the final end point of a patient’s journey. The big lesson from last week is that case acceptance can’t be transactional. It’s not yes or no; there is a continuum that must be managed to strategically engineer the yes on your own terms. Begin to see case acceptance as something that never ends. Just like patient relationships go on and patient education continues. We also never stop looking for 30
